Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T03:41:14.363Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epicurus' dying wishes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2013

James Warren
James Warren
Affiliation:
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

It is now a recognised phenomenon in the study of ancient philosophy – especially of the Hellenistic period – that the various philosophical schools disseminated or fabricated stories about the life of their chosen founder which were supposed to embody the theories – especially the ethical theories – to which that school subscribed. This may be termed ‘biodoxography’: the presentation and manipulation of purportedly biographical anecdotes in order to illustrate a particular philosophical stance. This biodoxography could be used for various and sometimes conflicting ends. While a particular philosophical school might attempt to publicise and embody in the image of its founder what it thought was an attractive model for living, opponents of that school were encouraged by this very biodoxographical practice to scrutinise the details of a chosen figure-head's conduct in order to produce possible conflicts with the proposed doctrine. The greater the emphasis laid on the founder's life as a model and paradigm of a particular philosophy, the greater the profit in finding some contradiction between his behaviour and the doctrine of the school.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society (Second Series) , Volume 47 , 2001 , pp. 23 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 2001

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alberti, A. (1995) ‘The Epicurean theory of law and justice’ in Laks, A., Schofield, M. (eds.) Justice and generosity Cambridge: 161–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Annas, J. (1993) The morality of happiness OxfordGoogle Scholar
Brink, D. O. (1990) ‘Rational egoism, self, and others’ in Flanagan, O. and Rorty, A. O. (eds.) Identity, character and morality: essays in moral psychology Cambridge, Mass.: 339–78Google Scholar
Brown, E. ‘Epicurus on the value of friendship (Sententia Vaticana XXIII)’ (unpublished paper)Google Scholar
Callahan, J. C. (1987) ‘On harming the dead’ Ethics 97: 341–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capasso, M. (1987) Comunità senza rivolta: quattro saggi sull' epicureismo NaplesGoogle Scholar
Capasso, M. (1988) Carneisco: il secondo libro del Filista (PHerc. 1027) NaplesGoogle Scholar
Carone, G. R. (2000) ‘Hedonism and the pleasureless life in Plato's Philebus’ Phronesis 45: 257–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassius, D. (1868) Das Metroon in Athen als Staatsarchiv BerlinGoogle Scholar
Champlin, E. (1991) Final judgements: duty and emotion in Roman wills 300 B.C.–A.D. 250 BerkeleyCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clay, D. (1982) ‘Epicurus in the archives of Athens’ in Studies in Attic epigraphy, history, and topography presented to Eugene Vanderpool, Hesperia suppl. 19: 17–26Google Scholar
Clay, D. (1986) ‘The cults of Epicurus’ CErc 16: 12–28Google Scholar
Decleva Caizzi, F. (1993) ‘Early Hellenistic images of philosophical life’ in Bulloch, A. W. et al. (eds.) Images and ideologies: self-definition in the Hellenistic world Berkeley: 303–29Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. (1994) ‘The misfortunate dead: a problem for materialism’ in Donnelly, J. (ed.) Language, metaphysics and death (2nd edition) New York: 153–69Google Scholar
Dorandi, T. (2000) ‘Plotina. Adriano e gli Epicurei di Atene’ in Erler, M. (ed.) Epikureisnuts in der späten Republik und der Kaiserzeit. Akten der 2. Tagung der Karl-und-Gertrud-Abel-Stiftung vom 30. September – 3. Oktober 1998 in Würzburg Stuttgart: 137–48Google Scholar
Feinberg, J. (1984) Harm to others: the moral limits of the criminal law vol. I OxfordGoogle Scholar
Frede, D. (1985) ‘Rumpelstiltskin's pleasures: true and false pleasures in Plato's Philebus’ Phronesis 30: 151–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gigante, M. (1986) ‘Biografia e dossografia in Diogene Laerzio’ Elenchos 7: 7–102Google Scholar
Goldschmidt, V. (1982) ‘La théorie épicurienne du droit’ in Barnes, J., Brunschwig, J.. Bumyeat, M. F.. Schofield, M. (eds.) Science and speculation Cambridge: 304–26Google Scholar
Gosling, J. C. B. (1969) Pleasure and desire: the case for hedonism reviewed OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottschalk, H. (1972) ‘Notes on the wills of the Peripatetic scholarchs’ Hermes 100: 314–2Google Scholar
Griffin, J. (1986) Well-being: its meaning, measurement and importance OxfordGoogle Scholar
Grover, D. (1989) ‘Posthumous harm’ PQ 39: 334–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konstan, D. (2000) ‘Altruism’ TAPA 130: 1–17Google Scholar
Laks, A. (1976) ‘Edition critique de la “Vie d' Epicure” dans Diogène Laërce 10.1–34’ in Bollack, J. and Laks, A. (eds.) Etudes sur l'épicurisme antique Cahiers de Philologie 1. Lille: 121–59Google Scholar
Leiwo, M. and Remes, P. (1999) ‘Partnership of citizens and metics: the will of Epicurus’ CQ 49: 161–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levenbook, B. B. (1985) ‘Harming the dead, once again’ Ethics 96: 162–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, A. A. (1986) ‘Pleasure and social utility: the virtues of being Epicurean’ in Flashar, H. and Gigon, O. (eds.) Aspects de la philosophic hellénistique Entretiens Hardt 32: 283–324Google Scholar
Luper-Foy, S. (1987) ‘Annihilation’ PQ 37: 233–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Militello, C. (1997) Memorie Epicuree NaplesGoogle Scholar
Mitsis, P. (1988) Epicurus' ethical theory: the pleasures of invulnerability IthacaGoogle Scholar
Nagel, T. (1970) The possibility of altruism PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Nagel, T. (1979) ‘Death’ in his, Mortal questions Cambridge: 1–10Google Scholar
O'Connor, D. K. (1989) ‘The invulnerable pleasures of Epicurean friendship’ GRBS 30: 165–86Google Scholar
Partridge, E. (1981) ‘Posthumous interests and posthumous respect’ Ethics 91: 243–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, G. (1984) ‘The misfortunes of the dead’ AmPhilQ 21: 183–8Google Scholar
Rorty, A. O. (1983) ‘Fearing death’ Philosophy 58: 175–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, S. (1989) ‘Epicurus and annihilation’ PhilQ 39: 81–90Google Scholar
Scott, D. (2000) ‘Aristotle on posthumous fortune’ OSAPh 18: 211–29Google Scholar
Sickinger, J. P. (1999) Public records and archives in classical Athens Chapel HillGoogle Scholar
Sidgwick, H. (1907) The methods of ethics (7th edition) LondonGoogle Scholar
Smith, M. F. (1998) ‘Excavations at Oinoanda 1997: the new Epicurean texts’ AS 48: 125–70Google Scholar
Soll, I. (1998) ‘On the purported insignificance of death’ in Malpas, J. and Solomon, R. C. (eds.) Death and philosophy London: 22–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suits, D. B. (2001) ‘Why death is not bad for the one who died’ AmPhilQ 38: 69–84Google Scholar
Thompson, W. E. (1981) ‘Athenian attitudes towards wills’ Prudentia 13: 13–23Google Scholar
Vander Waerdt, P. A. (1987) ‘The justice of the Epicurean wise man’ CQ 37:402–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, J. (2000a) ‘Diogenes Epikourios: keep taking the tablets’ JHS 120: 144–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, J. (2000b) ‘Epicurean immortality’ OSAPh 18: 231–61Google Scholar
Warren, J. (2001a) ‘Epicurus and the pleasures of the future’ OSAPh 21: 135–79Google Scholar
Warren, J. (2001b) ‘Lucretius, symmetry arguments, and fearing death’ Phronesis 46 (forthcoming)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, B. (1973) ‘Egoism and altruism’ in his Problems of the self Cambridge: 250–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wicherley, R. E. (1957) The Athenian agora III: literary and epigraphical testimonia PrincetonGoogle Scholar